BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The house of a brigade commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, has reportedly come under a terrorist attack in the capital, Baghdad.
The PMU announced the attack in a statement, saying, “A sound bomb explosion targeted the house of Lieutenant-Colonel Haqqi Ismail Amin (Abu Akbar al-Khalidi), commander of the 33rd Brigade in the Popular Mobilization Forces, in the al-Shu’ala area in the capital, Baghdad.”
The statement added that “the explosion resulted in minor injuries to two family members, who were taken to hospital for treatment.”
The Iraqi media said the perpetrators of the terrorist act had escaped the scene.
The PMU, which is the largest coalition of Iraqi resistance groups, has played a key role in Iraq’s 2017 victory against the Daesh terrorist group.
Since the defeat of Daesh, however, the anti-terror group has been targeted repeatedly by the U.S. military, prompting Iraqi resistance groups to step up efforts to push the U.S. out of their country over its destabilizing activities.
The event comes after the preliminary results of general elections were announced in the country.
The announcement came as Shia-dominated political factions close to the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) disputed the preliminary results of the legislative elections.
Iraq’s Fatah (Conquest) Alliance political coalition said it will continue to fight the preliminary vote results and will not back down from protecting the ballots cast in Sunday’s general elections.
Ahmed al-Assadi, the spokesman of Fatah Alliance, said in a televised statement that the coalition would appeal against the results of the election as it had suffered a sharp decline from 48 to about a dozen seats in parliament.
Influential Shia Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Sairoon Alliance has come first in Iraq’s disputed parliamentary elections, has criticized the election commission’s failure to meet a deadline for releasing the final vote results, saying such a delay besides political disputes will only harm the Iraqi people.
“It does not matter who won the elections but it is important to serve Iraqi people and the country’s security,” he said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Political disputes over ballot boxes besides delays in announcing the final results and pressure on the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) will inflict damage on the nation, not political groups,” Sadr added.
He called on all Iraqi political factions to exercise self-restraint and adhere to the legal means of protest.
Earlier in the day, IHEC said it would not meet a deadline to announce final results from the national poll held two days earlier. The Commission’s officials said they needed more time to manually count unopened ballot boxes in all provinces and ensure the election was free and fair.